Alabama Department of Archives and History

Official Symbols and Emblems of Alabama

The Heart of Dixie slogan was one dreamed up in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a public relations tool. It was first promoted by the Alabama Chamber of Commerce. It was to give Alabama a distinctive motto and replace a commonly used motto of the "cotton state" (which could also be used to describe many other states). The Chamber noted that "Alabama is geographically the Heart of Dixie, Alabama is industrially the Heart of Dixie, Alabama is, in fact, the Heart of Dixie." The Chamber of Commerce advocated its use on state license plates and a bill was passed in 1951 to add it to license plates. Actual implementation of the motto on auto tags did not occur until 1955.